Keene beats Plymouth State, 83-58

Eagle Times Staff
PLYMOUTH, NH — Junior guard Octavio Brito poured in a game-high 30 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the floor and 12-of-13 at the free throw line as the Keene State College men’s basketball team rebounded from a rocky first half to outscore Plymouth State University (PSU) 49-21 in the final 20 minutes of what ended up as a runaway 83-58 victory over the Panthers in Little East Conference action Wednesday night, Dec. 6, at Foley Gymnasium.

Playing the third of four games in a seven-day period and with a matchup of ranked teams looming on Saturday, Dec. 9, the Owls shook off an uncharacteristic first half that saw them never lead and trail by as many as nine in the first 4 minutes with a dominant effort out of the locker room to hand the Panthers a fourth straight blowout loss. After making just 1-of-9 from three in the initial 20 minutes and being beaten 26-17 on the glass (8-2 on the offensive end) while seeing Plymouth make 6-of-9 from deep, nearly all those numbers flipped in the second half. KSC shot a sizzling 59 percent, making 17-of-29 from the floor, and held the Panthers to just a 23 percent shooting mark overall while forcing 14 turnovers. Plymouth made just 1-of-11 from three in the period and, after 14 points on 4-of-5 shooting from deep in the first half, Torran Bosworth had just six points (2-5 FG) after halftime. Elijah Swanson scored 10 in the first half, and then just two in the second half. Meanwhile, the Owls had their offense humming, with Brito, Jeff Hunter and Mason Jean Baptiste combining for 32 second half points alone (11 more than the Panthers’ team total) on 10-of-15 shooting (10-12 FT).

Trailing for just the second time this season after 20 minutes (with the other time being their only loss), Keene State went from down three to up nine by using a 14-2 burst in only 4:23 to go up 48-39. The surge was highlighted by triples from Brito and Tahmeen Dupree on consecutive possessions within 21 seconds of each other. Plymouth had four turnovers in that span, and then coughed the ball up again that helped lead to a Jean Baptiste bucket at the 14:33 mark that put KSC up 53-41. Mike Carothers’ jumper with 12:02 left still had the Owls up 11, but PSU hung around by scoring five straight and was still within 60-53 with 9:44 remaining. They had a chance to get within five after getting four offensive rebounds (of their 17 in the game) on the same possession but missed three times in a row from deep and that proved to be their last real chance of the night to make a game of it late. A Hunter dunk 1 minute later had Keene State ahead 63-53, and a jumper by the star big man with 7:29 left pushed the lead to 14. Jean Baptiste and Brito were 4-for-4 at the foul line over the next minute to make it 71-53, and KSC’s lead was 20 (73-53) after Nate Siow’s steal and feed to Jean Baptiste for a breakaway layup at the 5:54 mark. Siow then knifed through the lane himself with 4:58 to go for a 77-53 edge, and the Owls’ lead grew as high as 26 in the final four minutes. KSC made 12-of-14 (86 percent) from the free throw line in the second half and 19-of-24 (79 percent) overall. The Owls forced five different Panthers into multiple turnovers in the second half (19 overall) and outscored PSU 27-1 off miscues in the game, 20-4 on fastbreaks, and 42-18 in the paint.

The second half drubbing helped erase what was a surprising first half for the Owls against a Panthers team that entered the night on a three-game losing streak, all by at least 26 points. On Saturday, Dec. 2, they lost 100-51 at Western Connecticut State University in a game they trailed 52-24 at halftime and shot 5-for-35 from three-point range. However, Dec. 6, they scored the first six points in 2:10 and led 11-2 at the 16:13 mark of the first half in just their second appearance at home this year. Swanson and Bosworth each made triples in the opening run, and the three-point shot helped the Panthers maintain their lead over the rest of the half. A layup from Siow finished KSC’s run of seven straight points in 47 seconds to get within 11-9, but Bosworth answered with a three, and he connected again from distance twice more in less than a minute for a 26-18 PSU lead at the 11:23 mark. The Owls still had just 22 points in the half with under 7 minutes remaining and found themselves trailing 35-28 after Kyler Bosse made a trey with 2:34 left. A layup from Giorgi Tsiklauri a little over a minute later still had the home team up seven, but KSC got back within 37-34 at halftime after two free throws from Hunter and a block by him of Tsiklauri that led to a transition layup from Brito with 6 seconds to go. Bosse missed a three at the buzzer and was held to just 3-for-18 shooting overall and 10 points on the night, though he did reach the 1,000-career point milestone.

“Plymouth is always a tough place to play … they were ready for us,” said Keene State Coach David Hastings. “I thought our shot selection was solid, but we missed early baskets, and they shot well in the first half. We played the second half with a bit more pressure and moved the ball more effectively on the offensive end to stretch the score out. Very happy that our team dealt with a little adversity in a positive way.”

It is an important non-conference game to close out the 2023 portion of the schedule, as KSC hosts No. 12 Tufts University (9-0) on Saturday, Dec. 9, at 2 p.m.